In a perfect world, we’d spend a weekend wrapping windows in plastic, hanging thermal curtains, sealing every draft and getting the house perfectly buttoned up before winter. In reality, the yard still needs fall cleanup. The holidays are coming. The days are getting shorter. And sometimes the spoons are simply gone (more on Spoon Theory here).
But with home heating costs already painful, doing nothing isn’t exactly appealing either.
So we went looking for the middle ground: quick, inexpensive, apartment and renter friendly ways to actually make a difference without turning winter prep into another project.
No weekend-long weatherization plan. No ripping apart the house. No 27-step checklist.
High Heating Bills, Low Effort: What We’re Doing in 5 Minutes or Less
10 SECONDS — Close the fireplace damper.
Once the fireplace is completely cold, close it. An open damper gives heated indoor air a direct escape route up the chimney — essentially leaving a window open all winter.
30 SECONDS — Flip the ceiling fans.
Set your fan to clockwise and run it on low. That pulls cool air upward and pushes the warm air collecting near the ceiling back down along the walls. Look for the small direction switch on the fan housing—or the reverse button on your remote.
1 MINUTE — Use the sun.
Open blinds and curtains when direct sunlight hits the windows. Close them when it’s gone to help keep that warmth inside.
1 MINUTE — Heat the bed. Lower the thermostat.
A heated mattress pad lets us drop the thermostat up to 10 degrees overnight without sacrificing comfort. During a winter power outage, it also uses a fraction of the electricity of a space heater—making it far more efficient on a generator or backup battery.
1 MINUTE — Heat yourself, not the house.
An electric throw on the couch or at your desk keeps the warmth exactly where you need it instead of raising the thermostat for every room while consuming significantly less power than a space heater
2 MINUTES — Unblock the heat you’re already paying for.
Check vents, returns and radiators for furniture, curtains, rugs or anything else restricting airflow. Move it. Free heat improvement: accomplished.
2 MINUTES — Check the furnace filter.
A clogged filter restricts airflow and forces the system to work harder. If it’s dirty, replace it.
3 MINUTES — Put a sock under the door. Seriously.
Fill a long sock with rice, tie the end and place it against a drafty door. Make one with the kids, repurpose a lonely sock—or buy an inexpensive draft stopper and skip the project entirely.
5 MINUTES — Seal the drafts you can actually feel.
Forget weatherstripping the entire house today. Use inexpensive self-adhesive weatherstripping on the one or two doors or windows already announcing themselves every time the wind blows.
Make It Even Easier
No time for rice socks? We get it. These are the two shortcuts doing the most work for us this winter:
Sleep warmer and turn the thermostat down: Browse our favorite top-rated heated mattress pads.
(As an Amazon Affiliate, we may earn from qualifying purchases)
Stop the drafts without the DIY: Browse our favorite top-rated door and window draft stoppers.
A Few Winter Preparations We Would Never Skip
Not every task belongs on the someday list. Before the first hard freeze, disconnect garden hoses and protect exterior spigots, clear gutters of fallen leaves and debris, replace a soiled furnace filter, and locate your home’s main water shutoff.
A few minutes of preparation now can prevent remarkably costly damage later.
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